Band:	Neptunian Maximalism
Album:	Le Sacre Du Soleil Invaincu
Style:	Experimental, Jazz, Drone metal
Release date:	April 11, 2025
A review by:	Roman Doez

01. At Dusk : Raag Marwa : Alaap
02. At Dusk : Raag Marwa : Vilambit Laya Alaap
03. At Dusk : Raag Marwa : Unisson Composition
04. At Dusk : Raag Marwa : Dream Chord
05. Arcana XX : Raag Todi : Alaap On Surbahar
06. Arcana XX : Raag (Raudra) Todi : Drut Laya, Chaotic Polyphonic Taan Combinations
07. Arcana XX : Raag (Raudra) Todi : MadhyalayaYama DCCLXXII
08. At Dawn : Raag Bairagi : Vilambit Laya Alaap
09. At Dawn : Raag Bairagi : Rite D'Ovairture & Badhat Unisson
10. At Dawn : Raag Bairagi : Sthayi & Antara Composition
11. At Dawn : Raag Bairagi : Layakari In Offer To The Cosmic Serpent

It has already been half a decade since the release of Neptunian Maximalism’s shocking and grandiose debut album Éons. With several live albums and a growing reputation under their belt, this sophomore release is here to cement them as a mainstay in the experimental fringes of jazz and metal... with some reservations.

Much like its predecessor, Le Sacre Du Soleil Invaincu is long, strange, and complicated. Clocking in at a hundred minutes, it is far from an easily digestible listen, and it does not want to be one. The album can be separated in three tracks: “At Dusk”, “Arcana XX”, and “At Dawn”, each taking at least thirty minutes to fully unfold. All three songs are loosely written in a similar calm / intense / calm structure, which is not all that thrilling to listen to when the calm sections consist of fifteen minutes of aimless improvisation.

As you might have guessed, I am not too fond of these improvisations. They do not feel like they evolve in a meaningful way or lead into the next sections all that well, and they really kill the pace of an already excruciatingly long album. Furthermore, what’s really frustrating is that the more intense songs like “Vilambit Laya Alaap”, “Drut Laya, Chaotic Polyphonic Taan Combinations”, or “Rite D'Ovairture & Badhat Unisson” are very well-crafted, interesting and entertaining pieces. They perfectly showcase the chaos that Neptunian Maximalism are able to create, and as such stand in sharp contrast to the painfully dull “Alaap” and “Alaap On Surbahar”.

Éons shined through its experimentation and its diversity. It is twenty minutes longer than Le Sacre Du Soleil Invaincu but feels twenty minutes shorter thanks to its dynamism, even in its dronier tracks. Le Sacre Du Soleil Invaincu, on the other hand, really struggles with keeping things interesting for a sustained period. There is also a lot less of the jazz that added to the craziness of Éons, and we are left instead with a mostly post- and drone metal album that struggles to find its footing and lasts a lot longer than it should.

I know that Neptunian Maximalism are capable of writing long albums, and even though Le Sacre Du Soleil Invaincu has really great tracks and strong moments, it ultimately does not justify its length and leaves me slightly disappointed. I am, however, not discouraged from checking out whatever they will release next, as several of the elements that made the brilliance of their debut are still there, just not developed properly.